Active control and/or monitoring of expandable tubular devices

ABSTRACT

A method for determining a shape of an expanded tubular including expanding an expandable swage, urging the expandable swage though an expandable tubular, and determining an outside dimension of at least one segment of the expandable swage.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of an earlier filing date from U.S. Non Provisional application Ser. No. 12/195,137 filed Aug. 20, 2008, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

In the hydrocarbon recovery industry, expandable tubular devices are increasingly used to enhance hydrocarbon recovery efforts. The devices allow, inter alia, the tripping of such devices through tubing strings that are smaller than the expandable tubular device will be when it is expanded. While in controlled conditions, expandables are very predictable in their geometric change; the downhole environment is far from controlled. Commonly expandable tubular devices will expand as much as is possible relative to the hole in which they are to be expanded. Sometimes the hole is smaller than anticipated from an operator's perspective due to things such as a hard feature in a formation that kicks a drill bit over and then rides up a flute of the bit such that the full designed diameter is not reached. Other times, a portion of the borehole may partially collapse and thereby restrict the size of the bore in that location. The result of such conditions can restrict operations later in the life of the well including further completion operations with tools getting stuck and possibly not fitting through such a restriction. The art would well receive any apparatus and method that improves efficiency in hydrocarbon recovery.

SUMMARY

A method for determining a shape of an expanded tubular including expanding an expandable swage, urging the expandable swage though an expandable tubular, and determining an outside dimension of at least one segment of the expandable swage.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring now to the drawings wherein like elements are numbered alike in the several Figures:

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross section view of a borehole having devices described herein illustrated.

FIG. 2 is the view of FIG. 1 in a more advanced position.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of an expandable swage as disclosed herein.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of an alternate swage assembly as disclosed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a formation 10 having an open hole 12 therein is adjacent a cased hole with casing 14. Within the casing 14 is illustrated a running string 16, to which is attached a moveable anchor 18 that provides a stabile foundation against which a stroking device 20 can bear when urging an expandable swage 22 through an expandable tubular 24. The tubular 24 extends in FIG. 1, and indeed will do so in a real world downhole environment, through one or more packers 26, other tubular components, and formation restrictions 28, among other things. These features present potential impediments to both the progress of the swage 22 and to the total diameter achieved by the expandable tubular 24. Resultingly, the diameter of the tubular 24 is often inconsistent. Difficulties caused by this reality can be alleviated in accordance with the disclosure hereof in that the disclosed swage 22 is configured to measure the diameter of the tubular 24 in real time while swaging. Measurement may be taken whenever desired, when a restriction is encountered (with a threshold compressive strain on the swage), continuously, etc as is appropriate for a particular application. For purposes of explanation, FIG. 2 shows the swage 22 adjacent a downhole end 30 of the illustration having monitored the size of the resultant expansion while traveling there from the uphole end 32 of the open hole.

It will be appreciated that the action of the anchor 18 and the stroking device are known to the art and need not be described in detail. The swage 22 however is distinct thereby providing it with the ability noted above.

In one embodiment, referring to FIG. 3, the swage 22 comprises a swage body 40 having at least one swage segment 42 displacably engaged with an outer surface 44 of the swage body 40. The one or more segments 42 grow in outside dimension collectively as they move relative to the swage body, the movement direction being toward a greater diametrical dimension of the frustocone of the swage body 40. Movement of the at least one swage 42 is occasioned by activation of a motor 46 that rotates a drive member 48, such as a lead screw. The drive member 48 is in mesh with a drive assembly 50 that couples motion from the drive member 48 to a drive housing 52. The member 48, assembly 50 and drive housing 52 in one embodiment constitute a drive system whose purpose it is to move the at least one segment 42 relative to the body 40. In one embodiment, the drive member 48 is a lead screw and the assembly 50 is a follower nut while in another exemplary embodiment the drive assembly 50 is a roller screw commercially available from Exlar Corporation, Chanhassen, Minn. USA. Other arrangements are substitutable providing they are capable of imparting a longitudinal displacement of the drive housing 52. Longitudinal displacement of the drive housing 52 is used to urge the at least one segment 42 to climb the body 40. In one embodiment, a motor controller 54 and a battery 56 are included for powering the motor 46 locally. In other embodiments, the motor 46 may be powered from a remote location with a suitable conductor attached thereto (not shown).

In each embodiment, a position indicator 60 in incorporated into the swage 22. Suitable position indicators include potentiometers, magnetostrictive elements, hall effect sensors, etc. The position indicator 60 is positioned relative to swage 22 in order to be capable of measuring the effective outside dimension of the at least one segment 42. In so doing and with the provision of a recording implement within in the downhole environment or at the surface or even at a remote location, a map of the dimension of the borehole through which the swage has been driven is available in real time and later if recorded. In the normal course the measurements should be recorded as they are of assistance both in selecting an appropriate size tool for running later in the life of the well and for diagnosing potential problems that might be experienced during such running

In one embodiment and as illustrated in FIG. 3, the position indicator 60 is located as shown within the swage body 40 and in operable communication with a feature 62 of the drive housing 52. The feature 62 may be simply a cam profile that puts a strain on a sensor of the position indicator 60 or may be for example a magnet that is sensible by a hall effect sensor 60, etc. In other embodiments, proximity sensors may be positioned between ones of the at least one segment 42 so that as the segment(s) move farther apart perimetrically as they move apart radially pursuant to longitudinal movement up the body 40, a signal is generated proportional to the movement such that their distance and hence their outside dimension can be calculated. The calculation can be done at a remote location or in the immediate vicinity with a processor.

Communication with a remote location or the surface of the information gained by the swage 22 is in one embodiment done via a wired pipe such as that commercially available from Intelliserve. Alternately the information may be transmitted wirelessly through acoustic communication methods, wireless radio frequency methods, wireline or other methods capable of transmitting data to a remote location.

In another embodiment of swage 22, referring to FIG. 4, the swage 22 comprises a swage mandrel 70 having at least one energizer receptacle 72. Within the receptacle 72 is placed one or more energizers 74. The energizers(s) 74 are configured to bear against surface 76 of the mandrel 70 in order to impart a longitudinal load on a swage cone 78. In one embodiment, the at least one energizer is one or more biasing members such as springs, for example. The longitudinal load will move the cone 78 under at least one swage segment 80 thereby urging that at least one segment 80 to move radially outwardly relative to an axis 82 of the cone 78. This embodiment does not require a motor or the components that go therewith. The embodiment does however include a position indicator 84 that can be of the same types as noted above and will provide the same information.

Determining the shape of an expanded tubular can be accomplished using one of the embodiments described herein by expanding the expandable swage, stroking it through the expandable tubular and gathering information from the position indicator that relates to an outside dimension of the swage. As the swage moves radially inwardly and radially outwardly during its trip through the expandable tubular, a database of the dimension of the swage may be recorded. Since the tubular is substantially the same size as the outside dimension of the swage, the measurements of the swage will provide a substantially accurate picture of the inside dimension of the expandable tubular. This information is usable for later operations as indicated above.

While preferred embodiments have been shown and described, modifications and substitutions may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the present invention has been described by way of illustrations and not limitation. 

1. A method for determining a shape of an expanded tubular comprising: expanding an expandable swage; urging the expandable swage though an expandable tubular; determining an outside dimension of at least one segment of the expandable swage.
 2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the urging includes: anchoring an anchor; and extending a stroker connected between the anchor and the expandable swage to urge the swage through the expandable tubular.
 3. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the determining is in real time.
 4. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the determining is continuous.
 5. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the determining is intermittent.
 6. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the determining is based upon a threshold compressive strain on the expandable swage.
 7. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising: communicating the outside dimension of the at least one segment to a remote location.
 8. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising recording the outside dimension of the at least one segment over a time consonant with an expanding operation.
 9. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising building a database of dimensions of the expandable swage during passage through the expandable tubular. 